Disposable absorbent garments, such as diapers, incontinence garments, and the like, have become popular because of their effectiveness in absorbing body exudates and because of their convenience. To improve the appearance and to reduce leakage from the waistband sections of such absorbent garments, elastic strips have been incorporated into the garment to produce gathered, snug fitting waistbands.
In particular, U. S. Pat. No. 4,381,781 issued May 3, 1983 to M. Sciaraffa, et al. describes an elasticized waist diaper in which a layer of elastic material is positioned in an opening in the waist area of the diaper. The elastic layer is located such that it forms a portion of the waist edge of the diaper.
Other diaper configurations have been developed to incorporate elasticized, gathered waistbands. Representative examples of such diapers are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,450 issued Nov. 9, 1976 to C. Schaar; U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,245 issued April 13, 1982 to F. Mesek, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,075 issued June 14, 1983 to F. Mesek, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,086 issued Feb. 7, 1984 to V. Repke.
Conventional elastic waistband configurations for disposable absorbent garments, however, have not been completely satisfactory because the waistbands have tended to sag and curl over toward the inside or outside of the garment. This can reduce the effectiveness of the elastic waist and can create an unsightly appearance.
To address the problems of waistband curl over and unsightly appearance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,595 issued May 7, 1985 to Kievit, et al. describes a diaper employing a configuration in which the waistbands are formed by affixing elastic elements between the diaper topsheet and backsheet using regularly spaced, transversely extending regions of securement. Regions of nonsecurement are formed between pairs of the regions of securement thereby forming channels which allow the diaper to breath and also form corrugations which tend to inhibit waistband roll over. The diaper design taught by Kievit, et al., however, is relatively complex and costly to manufacture. As a result, there has been a continued need for an economical and efficient construction for reducing the undesired roll over of the elasticized waistbands in disposable absorbent garments.